July 19, 2009
I got home last night after a really beautiful trip with my best friends over here; Lucy and Lisa. Lucy's friend, Spring, also came with us. My original plan was to return to the tourist town that Rose and I went to last week. Lucy came up with her own plan, however, and we ended up really glad we listened to her. We went to a very small town an hour from the tourist town I have been to several times. Now that I visited this new small town, I can't believe that I never knew about it before! If you have ever seen a movie called The Painted Veil, this small town is the place it was filmed. I'm not sure if it is the EXACT location, but it is really close, as you'll see by my pictures below. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and I had the best time because we got out on the water on a small boat, which is one of my favorite ways to enjoy scenic spots. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Lisa came to my house on Thursday night and we began our trip on Friday morning with breakfast at McDonalds in my city.

We were traveling on buses from 10am until about 3pm. Finally we reached this beautiful small town. We checked into a hotel and then went down to the riverside to rent a boat. On the way I saw some unusually large bamboo trees and other pretty sights.
  
 

The man lucky enough to be our boat driver pulled up and we began our photo session.... I mean .... our beautiful scenic journey up the river.
         
   
   
  
 
   
  
  
   
    

We came upon a riverbank full of tents with vendors all selling variations of the same trinkets, souvenirs, polished rocks, etc. There were horses and water buffalo to take a ride on, naked kids swimming in the water, and fried fish everywhere you looked. Lisa really wanted to buy a small gift I can take back to America and give to my nephew, Kye. All my friends have seen pictures of my family and have heard many stories. They love seeing pictures of my nephew, and Lisa wanted to find something special to give to Kye. She settled on some small carved ducks, mostly because they are small and my suitcases are already going to be overweight for my flight home in a week and a half.
                   
        
      
  

After this we headed back down the river to find some dinner. The sun was starting to get low in the sky and it was just so gorgeous. We were having such fun enjoying creation and the beauty around us that we decided to take the boat all the way to the main tourist town the next morning. We booked our driver to meet us at 6am for a sunrise boat ride, which would take about 3 hours along the peaceful river. Here are the pictures we took as we headed back to the small town for dinner.
   
   
   

It was a really hot day, and I tried on a sun hat, but decided it wouldn't be the kind of purchase I would get a lot of use out of once I return to America.
            

The next morning we were checking out of the hotel (pictured below) and headed to the riverbank to depart at 6am. I was so happy to be up early and setting out on a river adventure. The morning was totally beautiful as the sun rose behind the unique mountains surrounding us. We stopped at a small fishing village along the way to the tourist town. There was a sign which called the village a "model of renewable energy", which I found very funny. We also stopped at a swimming spot along the way. Lisa and Spring went swimming while Lucy and I made a short video to share with friends when I get back home.
              
          
   
  
   
   

We arrived in the tourist town in time for a late breakfast at my favorite spot. The day got hot early on, so I chilled in an air conditioned shop reading a book and drinking a diet coke while my friends shopped for gifts. This was Lisa's first time coming to this famous town, and it was really fun to see all the things they bought for their families at this foreigner tourist trap. While we had breakfast on the 2nd floor balcony, we saw about 60 white foreigners walking down the street and Lisa exclaimed, "It's like we're in America!" I thought it was funny that white faces are the thing that represents America, even though we were surrounded by traditional Asian buildings and many things Americans have never seen. I love sharing perspectives with my best friends in Asia. Lisa and Lucy are really great ladies and we all had a blast together.
          
        
   

We took the afternoon bus back to my city, and Lisa crashed in my guest room last night. This morning she was able to join my city friends at McDonalds for a study session. That was really cool to have her join us for my last weekend here with my dear friends.

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